According to a survey by Frost & Sullivan (Ferrester Sullivan Consulting), a global corporate growth consulting firm, smart cities will create tremendous business opportunities and will create value in excess of $2 trillion by 2025.

By 2050, it is expected that more than 80% of the population in developed countries will live in cities, compared to 60% in developing countries. The creation of a smart city ensures a smooth transition to urbanization, and technological advancement helps cities optimize resources and maximize people’s value, whether it is finance, time savings, or quality of life. “Artificial intelligence has been the most funded area of technological innovation for the past two years, and a large amount of investment has come from independent and corporate venture capital companies,” explains Jillian Walker, chief consultant of Visionary Innovation, Sullivan. Artificial intelligence plays an important role in intelligent parking, smart mobile, smart grid, adaptive signal control and waste management in smart cities. Big companies such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft are still key technology innovators and the main driver of artificial intelligence adoption. Other important findings include: Artificial Intelligence, Personalized Healthcare, Robotics, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Distributed Generation, and five other technologies are considered to be the cornerstones of tomorrow's smart cities. By 2025, the Asia Pacific region is expected to become the fastest growing region in the smart energy sector. In Asia, more than 50% of smart cities will be located in China. By 2025, the smart city project will create a value of US$320 billion for the Chinese economy. The North American market has been catching up quickly and many second-tier cities such as Denver and Portland have promised to build smart cities. The total value of the smart building market in North America, including smart sensors, systems, hardware, control, and sales software, will reach $5.74 billion by 2020. Taking into account the European Commission’s participation in the development of these initiatives, Europe will have the most investment in smart city projects worldwide. The European online taxi market is the center of smart mobile solutions for urban development. The current revenue reaches US$50 billion and will reach US$120 billion by 2025. In Latin America, cities that are actively developing smart city initiatives include: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Bogotá, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, by 2021, smart city projects will account for nearly 20% of the $3.2 billion Internet of Things revenue. “Currently, most smart city models provide independent solutions and are not interconnected. The future is moving toward integrated solutions that interconnect all verticals within a single platform. The Internet of Things has paved the way for this solution. "Vijay Narayanan, Senior Research Analyst, Visionary Innovation, Sullivan added.